My primary concern pertains to the utilisation of savings on account of virtual mode of meeting. Will the company allocate a portion of these funds to the welfare of the society, more particularly, among shareholders who actively participate in the AGM as speakers, distributing a small memento on important festivals? Can you provide the expenses on account of the virtual mode of meeting and on account of physical mode of meeting? My next concern: what strategy is DMart implementing to maintain or improve its profit margins? Can you elaborate on the company's approach to managing working capital and inventory levels? What are DMart's plans for expansion into new locations or markets? Can you provide an update on the progress of new store openings and the company's approach to selecting strategic locations? How does DMart balance its growth plans with maintaining operational efficiency? My final concern: should not helping a disabled person be part of your CSR activity? I appeal for support in certification work, including form 15CB.
I will like to call out Mr. Kaushik Shahukar's specific query on assistance and his communication with us. I would like to assure him that I will look into it personally and see what we can do basis his request that he has put forward for us. Then there have been multiple questions around gift coupons. The Companies Act does not permit us to issue any gift coupons. On specifics about what the company can offer, I think one good thing we have is we have retail stores and we are known for our discounts. So, I welcome every shareholder who has spoken today to go and visit our stores. On margins and operational efficiency, I think from a financial metric, on any element of financial metric, I think we are in a good spot. From the current operating standpoint, I think we are there and again I repeat the same point that gross margins are something that is sacrosanct. We don't want to earn more than 15% and below that whatever happens is a factor of market forces. So, PAT could be anything basis how efficiently we run the business and how intense the competitive context is. But from an operating margin standpoint, I think we are in a reasonably good spot.
I'd filled 10 forms for this company, I got 5 forms. I'm happy with the rate of the shares. We speaker shareholders would be even more happy if you were to send us some gift coupons or a box of dry fruits; it would be a cherry on the cake. Please try to send us speaker shareholders something.
There have been multiple questions around gift coupons. The Companies Act does not permit us to issue any gift coupons. On specifics about what the company can offer, I think one good thing we have is we have retail stores and we are known for our discounts. So, I welcome every shareholder who has spoken today to go and visit our stores. And like somebody asked about 15th of August, this period is actually a very nice period to do a little bit of more shopping because the quantum of discounts are much more. So please go ahead and visit our stores and enjoy all the discounts that you would be wanting or expecting.
Your revenue from operations, EBITDA, turnover, inventory turnover, profit after tax, everything is soaring. Sir, you did not give us any dividend neither any bonus. But Sir, after 2 years you will be celebrating silver jubilee. I would like to ask, if you are planning to do something exciting. Are you going to surprise the shareholders? Please plan something really good within 2 years. Think of a bonus or a get together or something that you think is right. Also, request you to consider for a physical AGM from the next year onwards or have a hybrid AGM.
On specific questions on dividend, this has been a question that has been asked every year and every year our response has been the same that we are in a very good space for growth and we are utilizing all our internal profits to add more stores. This in the long term is very beneficial because the net return on that investment we believe is significantly better if it is reinvested in the business, and hence we would like to retain income to invest in the future. But as and when the opportunity arises, the Board will contemplate, evaluate and appropriate decisions will be taken on that specific aspect.
It is good to know that the company is opening stores on the same day and are also providing updates. Sir in the upcoming financial years, that is, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 how many stores is the company planning to open? I would like to know about that.
Somebody also asked about new stores in the current year and the next year. As has been the policy of the Company, we do not give very specific guidance on how many stores we will add. However, our endeavour is always to be better than what we have done in the past or at least maintain what we have done in the past. So we continue that position, that we'll try to do better and better every year and the best way to look at it is take a judgment basis what we have done in the past. It is management's endeavour to be better than what we have been in the past and that will be the philosophy and ethos on which we operate the business.
There is no dividend. What is the reason the company not thinking about the shareholders? My next query: the company has opened new stores does the company plan to issue e-portal? The sales can be increased through the online system. Nowadays, people purchase more online. What is the future strategy of the company on those terms? What are the expansion plans of the company? What is the CapEx plan?
On specific questions on dividend, every year our response has been the same that we are in a very good space for growth and we are utilizing all our internal profits to add more stores. This in the long term is very beneficial because the net return on that investment we believe is significantly better if it is reinvested in the business, and hence we would like to retain income to invest in the future. On strategy on online: we have spoken about this multiple times. Our view is that for our model we will first address the very large cities and we have launched DMart Ready from that perspective. We offer similar products or the same products, mostly grocery FMCG products in large towns and see how the model works. We are new to this relatively, but we are understanding this business better over time and we are relatively more confident about the online business now than we were in the past.
I have three set of questions. One, DMart Ready has been there on the system for about 6 to 7 years. But still we do not see any profitability in the near future. So what is the management's view in terms of DMart Ready being profitable and when this can be expected? Second, as an active user of DMart Ready I'm surprised to see that there are a lot of restrictions in accessing, items not available, and a restriction on the number of items that I can purchase online. Though you charge Rs. 49 or Rs. 50 per delivery, still we report a loss. Competitors are offering for free. So what is the break even or when this restriction on items can be lifted? Items in the shopping cart are also disappearing. Can we ensure enough inventory in the system for DMart Ready as in the physical store? My last question: in terms of overall company operating profit margin, we have been hovering around 7-7.5% in the last 2-3 years. Is there any mechanism to increase the operating profit margin? What measures or steps will be taken by the management to increase the OPM?
Then the question was also on DMart Ready's profitability. I think having conversations around profitability for DMart Ready is a little bit premature. Our view is that how do we ensure that we lose as little money as possible. We can't have a view on when this business will be profitable for primarily two reasons. The margins that we make are not commensurate to the cost of operating the business yet. So we have to get significantly more scale and something in the gross margin structure has to change. On the operating cost, we are fairly confident. We know to what extent the business will cost to run. But I think gross margins have to go up and we have to get scale. Then, somebody also had a few complaints on the DMart Ready model. It is bittersweet feedback and we take it on the chin. We know we have to get better but it is also because of the consistently excessive demand. Like, in cities like Mumbai actually we can have significantly more service locations; significantly more touch points of service. So, the demand is significantly more than what we can supply and hence, you are facing these issues of sometimes items not available or items disappear from the cart as you are shopping. But we are trying our best to expand our facilities and we take your feedback. On charges for delivery if you have noticed, we have gradually reduced our charges for delivery from the time we started our business from 3% of value to INR 99, INR 79, and now INR 49. So we are cognizant of the feedback that we get from all customers and basis that we calibrate the decision for the business. On measures we are taking to enhance operating margins: gross margins are something that is sacrosanct. We don't want to earn more than 15% and below that whatever happens is a factor of market forces. PAT could be anything basis how efficiently we run the business and how intense the competitive context is. But from an operating margin standpoint, I think we are in a reasonably good spot.
Why have you kept the AGM on 10th of August? Today there are 10 other annual general meetings. Sir what is the total number of stores at present? Please give us shareholders some discount coupon of 20%. Reliance gives us 10% discount; you also think on similar lines. What is your plan for 15th of August? You usually provide people with discount; similarly if you can also provide us shareholders with some discount coupons.
Somebody asked how many stores do we have? We have as of end of March 2023, 324 stores. On gift/discount coupons: the Companies Act does not permit us to issue any gift coupons. On specifics about what the company can offer, I think one good thing we have is we have retail stores and we are known for our discounts. So, I welcome every shareholder who has spoken today to go and visit our stores. And like somebody asked about 15th of August, this period is actually a very nice period to do a little bit of more shopping because the quantum of discounts are much more. So please go ahead and visit our stores and enjoy all the discounts that you would be wanting or expecting.
I have just one question. How are we planning to increase revenue in future? One earnest request: please continue with VC so that people all over the world will have an opportunity to express their thoughts.
From the current operating standpoint, I think we are there. From an operating margin standpoint, I think we are in a reasonably good spot. We have to just focus on addressing other aspects or keeping a look on the other aspects of the business, and this is primarily because we have to grow. This country is a very large country, is offering a very large opportunity. I think we have to seize the moment or take advantage of that opportunity and hence, the single-minded focus is how do we add more and more stores.
On page no. 201 of the annual report there is an amount of Rs. 387 crores as shown under other expenses. What are these expenses? On the same note, expenses of even Rs 1 crores are given but no details are given for Rs. 387 crores. Please elaborate on this amount. Also, the figures related to the shareholders, that is the amount of dividend, is missing from the content page.
Then there was a question on miscellaneous expenses of page 201. This is a combination of primarily three large heads. One is the bank credit card commission charge that you pay to the credit card company or the banks. Then there's also a lot of repair and maintenance that happens in all our stores. We have 324 stores. A lot of repair and maintenance happens. And also, advertisement. While we don't advertise too much, but we do some bit of advertisement. So bulk of this miscellaneous expenditure is a combination of these three elements.